Ross excelling in double duty for soccer, golf teams

That's nothing more than a 24-hour stretch in the life of Taylor Ross.

The Johnstown-Monroe High School junior scored two goals for the Johnnies girls soccer team in a 4-1 win over Amanda-Clearcreek on Sept. 27.

Ross then teed off at 10 a.m. the next morning in the Division II girls golf sectional at Foxfire, firing an 85 to advance as an individual to district Wednesday, Oct. 5, at River Greens.

The sectional also was the first competitive round of golf for Ross since she was an eighth-grader.

"I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I hit some balls at the Granville driving range and played a couple of rounds at Hillcrest," Ross said. "I was a little nervous at first (at sectional), but then I got back into the swing of it. The players that I was playing with helped and I really wasn't under a lot of pressure."

Coach Chris Carlisle said participation in the sectional was as much of a dare as anything for Ross.

"Taylor came into my classroom and said she wanted to be a student aide," said Carlisle, a math teacher at Johns-town. "She kept asking me and finally I told her that I'd let her be my aide if she would play in the sectional. Frankly, I never thought she would go through it."

Ross shot a 43 on the front nine and a 42 on the back nine. She was runner-up to medalist Chloe Bradburn of Columbus Academy (76).

"To be really frank about it, I saw Taylor play middle school golf and thought she had a good swing," said Carlisle, who also coaches the Johnstown boys golf program. "I thought she would shoot about 100, but I never thought she would shoot 85. ...

"Taylor had two goals in soccer one night and shot an 85 at sectional the next morning. That's a pretty good couple of days."

The top two teams and top two individuals not on qualifying teams at district advance to the state tournament Oct. 14 and 15 at NorthStar.

"One of the reasons we decided to play at Players Club is because more than one good player or team didn't live up to expectations here," said Carlisle, whose team was the fifth seed in the sectional. "We knew if we would be able to shoot a good number, we would get out."

"I was chipping and putting well," Hastings said. "I didn't hit my drives or irons as well as I would have liked, but I did OK."

Carlisle said the sectional course might be a tougher test than River Greens.

"They really are two different courses," Carlisle said. "This course is longer and more trouble just because of the sheer number of sand traps, and holes 13 to 16 being incredibly tight around the woods.

"I think The Players Club is the second toughest course (in the area) other than the (Ohio State) Scarlet Course. The slope and speed of the greens at Scarlet set it apart from the rest."

Last year in the district at Cumberland Trail, Hastings shot a 78 and won a four-competitor playoff to advance to state.

At state on OSU's Scarlet Course, Hastings tied Granville's Nick Contini and Bellevue's Sam Strayer for 53rd at 182. He shot a 90 in the opening round and a 92 on the second day.

"River Greens is a tough course," Hastings said. "Probably the biggest thing I'll have to contend with is the length of the course and the undulation of the greens."

•The football team was 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the MBC before playing Fredericktown on Sept. 30. Coach Mike Carter needed a victory to tie the program record for wins.

Carter entered the game at 70-31 in his 10th season with the Johnnies. The program leader is Tim Kidwell, who was 71-68-1 in 14 seasons from 1974-87.

The Johnnies were 5-0 for the first time since 2002, which was Carter's first season leading the program. They lost to Sarahsville Shenandoah 28-8 in the sixth week and would finish 7-4 after falling to Woodsfield Monroe Central 36-0 in the opening round of the Division V playoffs.

The last time Johnstown went 6-0 was 1979, when the Johnnies finished 10-0 by defeating Newark Catholic 12-7 for the Licking County League title.

"We played on a Saturday night at Johnstown and it seemed like everyone in the county was there," said Mark Thomas, a former assistant under Carter and a player on the 1979 team. "Newark Catholic had won six (LCL) titles in a row and was the defending (Class A) state champion. It was a big game for all of us.

"We went 9-0 in the LCL and 10-0 overall, but finished fourth in the region. Back then (for the playoffs), they only took the top team from each of the four regions throughout the state in each of the three classes (AAA, AA and A). In 1980, they went from three classes to five divisions and took the top two teams from each region in the five divisions. In 1985, they went to the top four in each region and they added a sixth division in 1990. Then in 1999, they went to the top eight teams in each region, which is what we have today."

On Friday, Oct. 7, the Johnnies play at Utica, which won 21-19 last season. Johnstown holds a 6-4 edge in the last 10 meetings.

This season, the Redskins were 2-3 overall and 2-0 in the MBC before playing Loudonville on Sept. 30. They lost non-league games to Rayland Buckeye Local (33-16 on Aug. 26), Granville (61-12 on Sept. 2) and Heath (46-13 on Sept. 9) before beating East Knox 14-7 on Sept. 16 and Northridge 33-3 on Sept. 23.

The Johnnies beat Loudonville 56-35 on Sept. 23 as Ross Franklin ran for 229 yards on 29 carries with touchdowns of 58, 18 and 5 yards, and he returned a fumble 98 yards for a score.

Quarterback Matt Smith rushed for 78 yards on 12 carries with a 13-yard touchdown and he was 7-for-9 passing for 121 yards with a 60-yard touchdown to Nick Sadinsky. Tyler Thompson had three receptions for 36 yards.

Adam Carter had a 1-yard touchdown run and Alex Workman had a 58-yard scoring run.

The Johnnies had 521 total yards, including 400 rushing on 57 carries.

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
ThisWeek Community News ~ 5300 Crosswind Drive, Columbus, OH 43228 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service